Convertible piece of furniture with double-decker beds

ABSTRACT

Double-decker Murphy beds mounted in a wardrobe or closet. The upper and lower beds are pivotally mounted in the wardrobe or closet to be swung into and out of it independently of each other. A ladder for providing access to the upper bed is pivoted at its upper end on the upper bed and has slots in the lower ends of its uprights for receiving threaded pins provided at the foot of the lower bed ; wing nuts maintain the lower ends of the uprights on the pins. A spring-biased latching bolt is mounted on the upper bed to maintain it in its horizontal position and is operable by a cable extending along the length of the bed-spring thereof. Springs are provided for facilitating the return of the lower bed into the wardrobe.

0 Umted States Patent 11 1 1111 3,748,667 Ract July 31, 1973 41 CONVERTIBLE PIECE or FURNITURE 2,550,599 4/1951 Reed 5/9 R WITH D0UBLE DECKER BEDS 2,553,297 5/1951 Brumbaugh.... 5/8 2,657,400 11/1963 Pagon 5/9 R [75] Inventor: Bernard Ract, Albertville, France [73] Assignee: Juvenilia, Albertville, France [22] Filed: Mar. 29, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 128,674

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 7, 1970 France 7012475 [52] U. S. Cl. 5/8, 5/9 R [51] Int. Cl. A47c. 19/00 [58] Field of Search 5/7, 8, 9, I59, 168, I 5/169 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,359,637 l1/l920- Travis et al. 5/9 R 2,708,755 5/1955 Wilkinson.... 5 /8 3,311,932 4/1967 Ahola 5/9 472,321 4/1892 Tracy 5/159 R l,304,440 Zagelmeyer 519 R Primary Examiner-James T. McCall Assistant ExaminerDarrell Marquette Attorney-Charles E. Temko [57] ABSTRACT Double-decker Murphy beds mounted in a wardrobe or closet. The upper and lower beds are pivotally mounted in the wardrobe or closet to be swung into and out of it independently of each other. A ladder for providing access to the upper bed is pivoted at its upper end on the upper bed and has slots in the lower ends of its uprights for receiving threaded pins provided at the foot ofthe lower bed wing nuts maintain the lower ends of the uprights on the pins. A spring-biased latchin'g bolt is mounted on the upper bed to maintain it in its horizontal position and is operable by a cable extending along the length of the bed-spring thereof. Springs are provided for facilitating the return of the lower bed into the wardrobe.

5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PMENIEIJ 3. 748.667

CONVERTIBLE PIECE OF FURNITURE WITH DOUBLE-DECKER BEDS The present invention relates to convertible pieces of furniture with double-decker beds.

According to the invention, there is provided a piece of furniture with two beds in which each bed is separately operable to be received in vertical position in a wardrobe and to be withdrawn therefrom by a swinging movement and including a ladder providing access to the upper bed and pivotally mounted at the forward end of the upper bed, and positive hooking means being provided for fixing the ladder to a lower bed in the open or folded-out position of the beds.

Therefore, as long as the hooking means are operative a wrong manoeuvre can not cause the swinging of the upper bed into the wardrobe.

Preferably, and according to another feature of the present invention, the swinging movement of the lower bed for withdrawing it from or returning it to the wardrobe is facilitated by resilient means which are advantageously pneumatically operable.

Preferably, and according to a further feature of the present invention, means for releasing latch means disposed at the head or rearward portion of the upper bed for maintaining it in a horizontal position are adapted to be operated from the front of the piece of furniture.

The invention will be fully understood from the description which follows made by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic view in perspective of a piece of furniture according to the invention in its open position FIG. 2 shows a partial schematic in perspective from the back of the piece of furniture FIG. 3 shows a detail on a larger scale FIG. 4 shows a schematic view illustrating operating means for the latch means for the upper bed.

The piece of furniture 100 comprises a wardrobe or cabinet 101 having a body or frame formed, for example, of metal tubing including a first rectangular frame with horizontal members 102, 103 and with vertical members 104, 105 and a second rectangular frame with horizontal members 102 and 103' and with vertical members 104, 105 connected by upper cross members 106 and 107 and lower cross members 108 and 109 of the first frame.

On the vertical members 105 and 105 are fixed supports 150 for pivotally mounting a first bedspring about a horizontal axis. The end of the first bedspring opposite the wardrobe or the foot of the first bedspring is provided with supporting means 121 resting on the surface supporting the wardrobe 101.

Resilient means 110, 111 which are advantageously pneumatically operable are fixed between the head end of the lower bedspring 120 and the vertical members 105, 105 of the wardrobe 101 in order to facilitate the operation of the lower bed for its withdrawal as well as its arrangement in the piece of furniture.

The piece of furniture also comprises a upper bedspring 122 which can be received in or withdrawn from the wardrobe by swinging and independently of the bedspring 121 owing to the fact that in the vicinity of the head of the bedspring 122 a rod 133 carries at its ends followers adapted to roll in U-shaped guides 136, I37 extending substantially vertically and fixed on the vertical members 104, 104 of the wardrobe 101 for guiding the upper bed between its closed position in the wardrobe and its open position extending therefrom. The head end of the upper bed 122 is also supported by a pair of elongated links pivotally fixed to the members 104 and 104' at the upper ends thereof, and at the lower ends thereof to medial points 116 on the longitudinal sides of the bed. Optional safety rail 17 may also be provided, if desired.

During folding of the upper bed to storage condition, the rollers execute downward rectilinear movement, and the points 116 execute counter clockwise movement as seen in FIG. 1, to result in the upper bed 122 moving from horizontal to vertical position with combined rotational and translational displacement.

The ladder 123 providing access to the upper bed 122 is pivotally mounted at 124 at the foot or forward end of the bedspring 122. Means are provided for positively hooking or securing the ladder 123 onto the lower bed 120. To this end the lower ends of the vertical members 125 and 126 of the ladder are provided with slots 127 adapted to straddle screw-threaded pins 129 (FIG. 3) disposed at the foot of the bedspring 120 and with which co-operates nuts 130.

The securing and the latching of the upper bed 122 is thereby assured against all movement when the bed is withdrawn from the wardrobe in its open position.

A cross bar is provided on the wardrobe connecting the vertical members 104 and 104' near" the upper ends of the guides 136, 137. Two bolts 141 (FIG. 4) disposed at the head of the bedspring 122 are adapted to co-operate with the cross bar 140 to main tain the bedspring 122 in its horizontal or open position after being swung out of the wardrobe 101.

The bolts 141 are resiliently biased by resilient means 142 schematically shown connected by a wire or cable 143 which runs along the lower portion of the bedspring 122 and which can be conveniently operated from the front of the piece of furniture by simply pulling in the direction of the arrow p.

The present invention is, of course, in no way limited to the embodiment described and shown herein but, on the contrary, includes all variations and equivalents within the skills of the worker in the art according to the particular use envisaged within the scope of the in-- vention.

What is claimed is:

1. A convertible wardrobe with double deck beds comprising: a vertically oriented wardrobe frame in cluding a first pair of vertical members, and a second pair of vertical members, horizontal members interconnecting said first and second pairs to maintain the same in substantially parallel relationship; a lower bed having first and second ends, and being pivotally interconnected to said first pair of vertical members adjacent a first end thereof, an upper bed having firstand second ends, a first end of which is slideably interconnected to upper and lower beds, and selectively interconnected to said second end of the other of said upper and lower beds, said interconnection serving to maintain said upper and lower beds in fixed relatively parallel position during use, said upper and lower beds, when not in use, being disposed in parallel vertical relation between said first and second pairs of vertical members.

2. Structure in accordance with claim 1, including resiliently urged bolt means for fixing the position of said first end of said upper bed relative to said second pair of vertical members.

3. Structure in accordance with claim 1, including resilient counterbalancing means interconnecting said first end of said lower bed with medially disposed running along the upper bed.

s s s s a 

1. A convertible wardrobe with double deck beds comprising: a vertically oriented wardrobe frame including a first pair of vertical members, and a second pair of vertical members, horizontal members interconnecting said first and second pairs to maintain the same in substantially parallel relationship; a lower bed having first and second ends, and being pivotally interconnected to said first pair of vertical members adjacent a first end thereof, an upper bed having first and second ends, a first end of which is slideably interconnected to said second pair of vertical members for sliding movement in the plane of said second pair of vertical members, there being elongated link means pivotally interconnecting points on said upper bed intermediate said first and second ends with points on said second pair of vertical members, whereby said upper bed may execute combined translational and rotational motion between a first horizontal position above said lower bed, And a second vertical position to lie substantially in the plane of said second pair of vertical members; ladder means pivotally interconnected to a second end of one of said upper and lower beds, and selectively interconnected to said second end of the other of said upper and lower beds, said interconnection serving to maintain said upper and lower beds in fixed relatively parallel position during use, said upper and lower beds, when not in use, being disposed in parallel vertical relation between said first and second pairs of vertical members.
 2. Structure in accordance with claim 1, including resiliently urged bolt means for fixing the position of said first end of said upper bed relative to said second pair of vertical members.
 3. Structure in accordance with claim 1, including resilient counterbalancing means interconnecting said first end of said lower bed with medially disposed points on said first pair of vertical members.
 4. Structure in accordance with claim 1, further characterized in that said ladder means includes two uprights and wherein the means for securing the ladder comprises a slot at a lower end of at least one upright, each slot being adapted to straddle a threaded pin fixed to the end of the lower bed remote from the mounting means thereof, and tightening means cooperating with said threaded pin.
 5. Structure in accordance with claim 2, said bolt means including operating means comprising a cable running along the upper bed. 